Soldiers parade at Luri Training Center at the deployment event. November 15, 2023. (Charles Wote).

The US Ambassador to South Sudan has called on the peace parties to cooperate and deploy a politically neutral unified force that will guarantee security in the country.

Michael J. Adler made the remarks on Monday after meeting the South Sudan Minister of Foreign Affairs, James Morgan in Juba to discuss the country’s preparedness for the 2024 elections.

Adler said urgent action is needed to complete the “full establishment of the Necessary Unified Forces including the police, politically neutral forces that can guarantee the security of the country,” in a statement to state-owned media SSBC.

The envoy also called on the SPLM In Opposition to provide the list of its middle echelon officers for deployment to give way for the completion of the first phase of security arrangement.

“We called on all parties to cooperate to make this possible, including the SPLM-IO which needs to provide its list of middle echelon officers so that the process can move on.”

He further called for establishment of political and civil space while appealing to the leaders to engage in dialogue and commit to address issues of difference.

Ambassador Adler called on South Sudan political leaders to reject the use of violence as a tool of competition.

Last month, the national cabinet minister said at least 3,774 troops have been deployed out of the 53,000 Necessary Unified Force (NUF) graduated in the first phase of the security arrangement.

Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro said the force divided in six battalions have been posted to five locations, mostly conflict hotspot areas across South Sudan between November and December 2023.

He added that government teams are being sent to verify a few unified forces left in Panyier and Torit, in preparation for their deployment.

Lomuro said more teams are being sent to assess the conditions of some cantonment areas in preparation for commencement of Phase-2 in few weeks to come.

The United States, United Kingdom and Norway said recently that they were seeking answers on when, how and where the transitional government plans to deploy the remaining Necessary Unified Force.

The Western nations said they also wish to know about the command structure of the deployed force.

Troika stated that the South Sudanese people deserve a professional, politically neutral security sector to provide a safe process.